


Tomorrow and Tonight

by ami_ven



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: mcsheplets, Episode Tag, Episode: s04e04 Doppelganger, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-19
Updated: 2014-02-19
Packaged: 2018-01-13 01:08:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1207198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“We should really get some sleep, too.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tomorrow and Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "mcsheplets" prompt #144 "season 4"

Even knowing the entity was gone, no one was in a hurry to go to sleep. John’s team had claimed their usual table, joined by Sam and Jennifer, but pretty soon the mess was full of people. As the sun began to rise, they finally started drifting out again, sometimes alone, but more often in twos and threes.

Sam finished her cup of blue Jell-O and left for bed. Jennifer followed the sixth person who stopped to ask for sleeping aids back to the infirmary, and Ronon went for a run with a group of Marines, a few minutes before Teyla rose as well.

“I believe I will meditate before I attempt to sleep,” she said. She came around the table to lean her forehead gently against John’s, hands warm on his shoulders, then she did the same with Rodney. “Sleep well.”

“Good morning,” Rodney said, and Teyla smiled before she left.

John leaned back in his chair, and accidentally bumped Rodney’s shoulder. He hadn’t really thought about it, with all of them grouped around the table, but now that they were the only two people still in the mess, he realized how close they had been sitting. He didn’t move.

“We really should get some sleep, too,” said Rodney.

“Yeah,” John agreed, still not moving. He hadn’t felt cold, but Rodney’s shoulder, resting against his, felt wonderfully warm. “Okay.”

“Hey,” said Rodney, and he shifted sideways to look at John, leaving his shoulder feeling suddenly cold. “Are you even going to pretend you’ll go back to your room and try to sleep if I leave you here?”

John closed his eyes. He knew Rodney hadn’t meant it like that, but he still felt that icy-cold numbness seeping through him again, threatening to overwhelm him— until warm hands grabbed his shoulders, and he blinked up into worried blue eyes.

“John?”

He swallowed, hard, then said, “You were dead, Rodney! That was my nightmare, that everything was exactly the same, except that you were _dead_. And I can’t— I know that you’re fine, but when I wake up—”

“Oh,” said Rodney, his grip tightening a little. “Oh. Well, that’s easy enough to fix.”

“Rodney, I can’t,” John protested. “We can’t—”

“Yes, we can,” said Rodney, his voice low and intense, and John suddenly remembered that he hadn’t been sleeping, either. “Do you really think that after what happened, anyone is going to question what we do to finally get some sleep? You can go back to being the fearless, untouchable military commander tomorrow, but for tonight, just be _John_.”

“I—” John began, then let out a long breath. He leaned forward until his forehead bumped Rodney’s collarbone. “Okay.”

Tomorrow, he’d be able to deal with this, the thing with his face that had terrified— and killed— the people he was supposed to protect. Tomorrow, he’d be able to pretend that none of it bothered him, that he was calm and confident and in control.

After he’d gotten a good night’s sleep, with Rodney, who was alive and here and still looking expectantly at him.

“Okay,” he repeated.

John let Rodney pull them both to their feet, barely managing to follow him back to his room. He didn’t remember getting undressed or climbing into Rodney’s bed, but when he woke in the dark minutes or hours later, icy-cold again and heart pounding, an arm landed heavily across his waist, and Rodney’s voice said, groggily, “I’m not dead. Go back to sleep, Sheppard.”

John lay back down, snug against Rodney’s side, and didn’t wake up again until much, much later.

THE END


End file.
